The Woman Who Turned Down Picasso

Anne Sinclair has a new book coming out about her grandfather, the dealer Paul Rosenberg.

Rosenberg and Picasso were the same age and became such close friends, they lived next door to each other in Paris. Picasso gave his dealer a priceless gift — he painted Rosenberg’s family: Anne Sinclair’s grandmother and her mother as an infant. Years later, Sinclair made a decision she now regrets: she actually turned down a chance to pose for Pablo Picasso.

“When I was 14, I remember that Picasso said to my mother, ‘Well, your daughter is becoming bigger and I like her eyes, and I see eyes all over her face, so I should paint her once!'” Sinclair recalled.

“And so I was terrified. A 14-year-old girl — imagine her twisted face, with eyes everywhere and nose everywhere! And so I said, ‘No!’ and ran into the garden, which was very intelligent of me!”